Improvement in submarine e



WOOD & LAY.

Marine Torpedo.

Patented May 16, 1865.

lLPETERS. FiOTO-UTHO llivrTnD @TATE PATENT @rries,

WM. w. w. WOOD, AND JOHN L. LAY, on THE UNITED STATES navy, ASSIGNORS ToDONALD MOKAY, OF EAST BOSTON, MASS;

IMPROVEMENT EN SUBMARINE EXPLOSEVE SHELLS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,?26, dated May 16,186:"); aniedated February 25, 1865.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known I that we, WILLIAM \V. WV. WVOOD, Chief Engineer, and JOHNL. LAY, First-Assistant Engineer, both of the United States Navy, haveinvented certain Improvements in Submarine Shells or lorpedoes; and wedo hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings,

' ondly, in the use, within the shell, of a yieldin g wad or diaphragmfor separating the charge of explosive compound from thesaid air-space;thirdly, in the employment, for igniting the charge, of a weight soarranged within or adjacent to the casing of the shell, and so combinedwith retaining and releasing devices, that the said weight can bereleased at pleasure,'and be permitted to fall on any substance whichcan be ignited by percussion, and which communicates with the charge.

The main objects of our invention may be enumerated and expressed asfollows: First, the concentration of the full force of the explosion andthe direction of that force in the desired course; second, the laying ofthe torpedoes without danger to the operators or to the vessels fromwhich the operation is conducted; third, sufficient buoyancy to enable 7the torpedoes to rise after they have been submerged; fourth, themaintenance of the submerged shell in the proper position for producingthe best effect; fifth, a certainty of the entire charge being consumedand the full force therefrom obtained before the water'can reach andinjure the explosive compound; sixth, a much more destructive effectthan can be caused by the explosion of the torpedoes our invention, wewill now proceed to describe its construction, operation, and effect.

On reference to the accompanying drawings, which forma part of thisspecification, Figure 1 is a vertical section of our improved submarineshell or torpedo; Fig. 2, a sectional plan on the line 1 2, Fig. 1, andFigs. 3, at, and 5 views illustrative of experiments made with ourimproved shells.

In the present instance, the casing A of the shell is constructed ofsheet-iron in the form of a hollow cylinder, A, closed at the lower endand. furnished at the upper end with a detachable cover, 13, the lowerclosed end being cone shaped, if desired, and being made stronger andheavier than other portions of the casing by making the metal thicker orby securing a mass of east iron at this point.

At the side and in the interior of the cats ing, and extending nearlyfrom the bottom of the same to within a short distance from thedetachable cover 13, is formed a tubular chamber, D, and at the lowerend of the latter is a nipple, m, a hole in which communicates through asuitable channel with the interior of the-casing, an opening beingformed near this nipple in the said casing, and the said opening beingclosed by a door, E, so con structed that it can be readily removed whenaccess has to be had to the nipple. A pin, F, passes through the casingand through the tubular chamber D at a point a short distance below thetop of the said chamber, this pin serving to support a spherical weight,G, and having an eye, a, to which a cord .or wire, '1), may be secured.A pin, II, also passes through and is screwed into the casing, andserves to prevent the weight G from escaping upward from the tubularchamber. Gunpowder I or gun-cotton, or other highly explosivecomposition is packed into the casing, but not allowed to gain access tothe tubular chamber D. The interior of the casing is not entirely filledwith powder; but the latter is limited bya wad or diaphragm, K, to apredetermined space, so that between the diaphragm and the cover 13there shall be an air-space, M.

Although the diaphragm, which may be of any suitable material, is packedsufiiciently tight to maintain the explosive compound with in thedesired limits, it is not so tightly secured to the interior of thecasing as to prevent it from yielding and passing into the airspace theinstant the explosion takes place and before the'disruption of the shellensues.

The air-space M may be of sufficient extent to render the shell buoyant,and the exterior of the casing may be provided with any suitable lugs orprojections, e, or other appliances to serve as a means of handling andlaying the shell.

hen the shell has to be discharged, the cord 7) is pulled, the pin Fthereby withdrawn from the casing, and the spherical weight G permittedto fall on a suitable cap charged with detonate and placed on the nipplem at the bottom of the tubular chamber D, the ignition of the detonateinsuring the instant discharge of the explosive compound.

In order that the advantages of our improved submarine shell or torpedomay be thoroughly understood, it may be well here to give the followingbrief account of certain experiments made at Schenectady, New York, inobedience to orders from Rear Admiral F. H. Gregory, United States Navy,the account, as well as the diagrams Figs. 3, 4, and 5, being taken fromthe official report of Captain Charles S. Boggs, United States Navy, andChief Engineer \Vood, United States Xavy, to Admiral Gregory:

The dimensions of the experimental shells were as follows: three feet inheight, one foot in extreme diameter, cylindrical in form, andconstructed of iron one-sixteenth of an inch thick, with adiaphragminside dividing the interior into two compartments, thelowercompartment-containing the powder, the upper portion acting as anair-vessel to direct the course of the explosion. The shells, whenexploded, were in a vertical position.

Experiment N0. l.In this trial the shell contained forty pounds ofpowder, and was retained at the bottom of the river at a depth of tenfeet by a weight of one hundred and twenty pounds. The weight beingdetached, the shell rose to the surface in two seconds, and thenexploded, raising a column of water, as nearly as could be determined,one hundred and seventy-five feet high, some of the fragments of theshell being projected upward to the height of probably four hundredfeet. The diameter of the water raised was about eight feet, and causedbut little disturbance immediately under the vortex of the explosion.

Experiment N0. 2. In this case the shell contained sixty pounds ofpowder,and was moored to the bed of the river. A heavy raft of timber,sixteen feet by sixteen feet square and ten inches in thickness,solid,well bolted and secured, was placed over the sh ell,three andone-half feet of water intervening between the raft and the top of theshell. When the shell was exploded, the raft was blown to atoms, some ofthe pieces being raised to a vertical height of from one hundred andseventy-fivefeet to two hundred feet. The column of water was in thiscase concentrated and solid, reaching, apparently, a

height of two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet, the fragments ofthe raft falling at 'no great distance from the point of explosion.

Experiment N0. 3.The shell in this case contained fifty pounds ofpowder, and floated inthe water so that the upper extremity of the shellwas about one foot beneath the surface. The column of water wasprojected about two hundred and fifty feet vertically, and was six feetin its concentrated diameter.

Thejshells were exploded bya line of about one hundred and twenty-fivefeet in length, at which distance the operators stood without anyinconvenience, and could have been in a boat ten feet from the point ofexplosion without being in any danger, excepting from falling timber,broken up by the explosion.

The cause of these most extraordinary results may be best explained bythe following extract from the report:

In torpedoes and submarine mines, as here tofore constructed, theexplosions have been nearly equal in all directions. It is well knownthat powder exploded in cacao loses much of its effect, and intorpedo-cases filled entirely with explosive compound, rupture takesplace instantly,when, in consequence of the water coming in contact withthe powder, much of it remains unburned, and its effect diminished inthe ratio of the quantity unburned. The center of gravity of theimproved shell is so fixed that its vertical position at the time ofcontact and explosion is secured, and a diaphragm of slight resistanceplaced in the shell forms an airspace, which directs the force of theexplosive material in the shell,while it secures the means of causing itto rise rapidly when liberated, and of maintaining its vertical positionin contact with the bottom of the vessel when exploded. The experimentsprove very conclusively the correctness of this theory. The method offiring was by liberating a ball inclosed in a tube two inches indiameter extend ing the length of the shell.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the concentration of the forceof the explosion is caused by the air-chamber. The moment the ignitionof the charge is effected, the first part to yield will be the diaphragmK, and the disruption of the torpedo and the force of the explosion willbe in the direction in which the diaphragm moved in the first i11-stance.

It will be evident that the shell may be va ried in form andconstruction without departing from the main features of the invention,and that the exterior casing may be made of other material as well assheet-iron. A strong easing of wood for instance, properly hooped orotherwise strengthened, may be converted into a most efiicient anddestructive torpedo by charging it in the manner described.

Although we prefer to ignite the charge by means of a weight released soas to fall and strike a cap charged with detonate, in the mannerdescribed,when such means are available, other methods of dischargingthe load may be adopted. Electricity, for instance, may be brought intoplay for accomplishing this end, as in discharging heavy blasts in minesand excavations; or a time-fuse may be employed; or such apparatus maybe applied to the shell that the explosion may be effected by the'impactof the rising shell (previously submerged) against the bottom of avessel or the side of a fortification.

It should be understood that the pin F is so secured to the casing thatit cannot be withdrawn therefrom too readily, and without theapplication of considerable force to the cord b,- Otherwise there Wouldbe danger in handling the shell.

. ,"We may remark here that although ourimproved torpedo can be used ina variety of ways for destructive purposes, we prefer to use it inconnection with apparatus which we have designed for the purpose ofsubmerging the torpedoes and releasing them after being submerged, whichapparatus forms subjects for separate applications for patents.

We claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Asubmarine shell or torpedo composed the said casing, and so combinedwith the retaining and releasing device herein described, or anyequivalent to the same, that the said weight can be released at pleasureand be permitted to fall on any substance ignitable by percussion.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WM. w. w. woon. JOHN L. LAY.

W'itnesses:

HENRY HOWSON, CHARLES HowsoN.

